Database Engine Updates for Amazon Aurora MySQL

Amazon Aurora releases updates regularly. Updates are applied to Aurora DB clusters
during system
maintenance windows. The timing when updates are applied depends on the region and
maintenance window setting for the DB cluster, as well as the type of update.

Updates are applied to all instances in a DB cluster at the same time. An update requires
a database restart on
all instances in a DB cluster, so you experience 20 to 30 seconds of downtime, after
which you can resume using
your DB cluster or clusters. You can view or change your maintenance window settings
from the
AWS Management Console.

Aurora MySQL Versions

Although Aurora with MySQL compatibility is compatible with the MySQL database engines,
Aurora MySQL
includes features that are specific to Aurora MySQL and only available to Aurora MySQL
DB
clusters.

Aurora versions use the format <major version>.<minor version>.
<patch version>. You can get the version of your Aurora instance by querying for the AURORA_VERSION
system variable. To get the Aurora version, use one of the following queries.

select AURORA_VERSION();

select @@aurora_version;

Aurora MySQL Engine Versions

Starting with Aurora MySQL 2.03.2, Aurora engine versions have the following syntax.

<mysql-major-version>.mysql_aurora.<aurora-mysql-version>

For example, the engine version for Aurora MySQL 2.03.2 is the following.

5.7.mysql_aurora.2.03.2

Note

For Aurora MySQL 2.x, the engine version for Aurora MySQL version 2.03.1 and lower
is 5.7.12.
Currently, the engine version for all Aurora MySQL 1.x versions is 5.6.10a.

You specify the Aurora MySQL engine version in some AWS CLI commands and RDS API operations.
For example, you
specify the --engine-version option when you run the AWS CLI commands
create-db-cluster and
modify-db-cluster. You specify
the EngineVersion parameter when you run the RDS API operations
CreateDBCluster and
ModifyDBCluster.

Prior to Aurora MySQL 2.03.2, the engine version displayed by the AWS Management Console
remained the same even after
you upgraded the engine in the cluster. In Aurora MySQL 2.03.2 and higher, the engine
version in the
AWS Management Console also includes the Aurora version. Upgrading the cluster changes
the displayed value. For Aurora
clusters managed through AWS CloudFormation, this change in the EngineVersion setting can trigger actions by AWS CloudFormation.
For information about how AWS CloudFormation treats changes to the EngineVersion setting, see
the AWS CloudFormation documentation.

Database Upgrades and Patches for Amazon Aurora MySQL

There are two ways to upgrade the minor version of a DB cluster or patch a DB cluster:

Modifying the Engine Version

When upgrading to Amazon Aurora MySQL version 2.03.2 and higher, you upgrade the minor
version of a DB cluster. You do so by modifying the engine version of the DB cluster
using the AWS Management Console, AWS CLI, or the RDS API.

To modify the engine version of a DB cluster

By using the Amazon RDS console –
Complete the following steps:

Sign in to the Amazon RDS console and choose Databases.

Choose the DB cluster that you want to modify.

Choose Modify.

Change the Aurora MySQL engine version in the DB engine version box.

Choose Continue and check the summary of modifications.

(Optional) Choose Apply immediately to apply the changes
immediately.

On the confirmation page, choose Modify cluster.

By using the AWS CLI –
Call the modify-db-cluster AWS CLI command and specify the
name of your DB cluster for the --db-cluster-identifier option
and the engine version for the --engine-version option.

For example, to upgrade to Aurora MySQL version 2.03.2, set the --engine-version option to
5.7.mysql_aurora.2.03.2. Specify the --apply-immediately option to immediately
update the engine version for your DB cluster.

By using the Amazon RDS API – Call the
ModifyDBCluster API operation and specify the
name of your DB cluster for the DBClusterIdentifier parameter
and the engine version for the EngineVersion parameter. Set
the ApplyImmediately parameter to true to immediately
update the engine version for your DB cluster.

Applying Pending Maintenance to an Aurora MySQL DB Cluster

When upgrading to Aurora MySQL version 1.x versions, new database engine minor versions
and patches show as an
available maintenance upgrade for your DB cluster. You can
upgrade or patch the database version of your DB cluster by applying the available
maintenance action. We recommend applying the update on a nonproduction DB cluster
first, so that you can see how changes in the new version affect your instances and
applications.

To apply pending maintenance actions

By using the Amazon RDS console – Complete the following steps:

Sign in to the Amazon RDS console and choose Databases.

Choose the DB cluster that shows an available maintenance upgrade.

For Actions, choose Upgrade
now to immediately update the database version for your DB
cluster, or Upgrade at next window to update the database
version for your DB cluster during the next DB cluster maintenance window.

By using the AWS CLI – Call the
apply-pending-maintenance-action
AWS CLI command and specify the Amazon Resource Name (ARN) for your DB cluster for
the
--resource-id option and system-update for the
--apply-action option. Set the --opt-in-type
option to immediate to immediately update the database version for
your DB cluster, or next-maintenance to update the database version
for your DB cluster during the next cluster maintenance window.

By using the Amazon RDS API – Call the
ApplyPendingMaintenanceAction API operation
and specify the ARN for your DB cluster for the ResourceId parameter and
system-update for the ApplyAction parameter. Set
the OptInType parameter to immediate to immediately
update the database version for your DB cluster, or
next-maintenance to update the database version for your
instance during the next cluster maintenance window.

If your current Aurora MySQL version is 1.14.x, but it is lower than 1.14.4, you
can upgrade only to 1.14.4 (which supports db.r4 instance classes). Also, to
upgrade from 1.14.x to a higher minor Aurora MySQL version, such as 1.17, the
1.14.x version must be 1.14.4.